


Warmth

by sapphirepastries



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Gen, he did a lot of bad stuff but he's a dad ok!, he loves his kids and please just let me have this, hornet's only there for like a second, the pale king's a dad ok
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:54:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 728
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27838693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapphirepastries/pseuds/sapphirepastries
Summary: Hollow sees the Pale King and Hornet have a small moment together.It brings back a memory from a long, long time ago.
Relationships: The Hollow Knight | Pure Vessel & The Pale King
Comments: 11
Kudos: 49





	Warmth

**Author's Note:**

> this was inspired by [ this piece of art](https://hawaiianbabidoll.tumblr.com/post/634922938935705600/do-not-feeldo-not) i found on tumblr. please check it out!

Hollow stood half hidden in the doorway, looking into the courtyard. Hornet and the Pale King were outside, the latter rubbing the former’s horns in an affectionate manner, obviously proud of something the spider had done. Said spider looked quite embarrassed, but didn’t move the Pale King’s hand and let him pet her before grumbling about finding Ghost and quickly escaping the Wyrm’s affections. The Pale King gave out an amused huff before spotting his eldest child in the corner of his eye.  
  
“Good day, Hollow. Don’t just stand there, come here, my child,” he said, gesturing for them to come over.

Hollow, however, kept standing where they stood, the scene of Hornet and their father together taking them to another time. Before the fall of Hallownest. Before being sealed away.

In their mind’s eye, they could see a baby Hornet clinging onto their father’s robes as their father picked her up into his arms and nuzzled her lovingly. Hollow had stood exactly the same way they were in the present, half hidden by the doorway as they watched the scene.

It was so warm.

They could feel the warmth of their father’s love exuding from it.

From the way he picked up Hornet, to the way he nuzzled her, to the way Hornet giggled and nuzzled back.

To the way that the Pale King had so easily shown his love for her.

It was a warmth that Hollow was never meant to have.

They had stood there for a second longer before turning away and leaving before they were spotted.

_Do not feel….do not…_

“...ild?! My child! Hollow, is everything alright?!”

Hollow jumped slightly, suddenly aware of something wet rolling down their mask alongside a warmth. They looked down and came face to face with the Pale King, who was looking at them in concern, their face in his hands. Somehow, they had bent down without them noticing.

“Hollow, what is wrong?” the Pale King asked, concern in his voice. He had been calling to them without getting a response only to see them suddenly start crying. “Are you hurt somewhere?”

Hollow shook their head. No, they weren’t hurt.

_Just….thinking…_ they signed.

“About?”

They were silent for a moment. They didn’t know what to say before the words spilled out on their own.

_I...just now...when you were with Hornet...it was so warm. So warm, so warm…_ Their sentences started losing their coherency as their emotions started to overwhelm them, and they fell to their knees. _So warm, cannot have that warmth, do not deserve it, cannot feel, do not feel…cannot feel! Do not hope, do not feel--!_

Oh, how they had wanted to feel that warmth for themself. To know that their father loved them the way he loved Hornet. They wanted him to pick them up and nuzzle them, to pat their horns when they had accomplished something, to hug them when the weight of being the Pure Vessel had gotten too heavy for them to handle on their own.

But they couldn’t.

They had to be hollow, to be empty, to be unable to want to feel the warmth of their father’s love.

For the sake of Hallownest.

For the sake of their King.

For the sake of their Father.

Warm arms wrapped themselves around them. Hollow’s mask was nuzzled against a warm chest.

“Hollow…” came the quiet voice of their father. “I am so sorry, Hollow.”

The Pale King tightened his hold around his child. The child he loved so dearly, yet had done so much wrong to.

“My child, you deserve everything in the world,” he continued quietly, his voice cracking as tears of his own fell. “You deserve all the warmth in the world, yet I denied you that right. I only have myself to blame for that. Not you. Only me.”  
  
The Pale King pulled away from the hug and put a hand on Hollow’s mask, wiping away the tears with his thumb.

“You deserve to feel, to think, to hope. You deserve the warmth I should have given you so long ago.”  
  
He pulled Hollow back into a hug, his face nuzzled in between their horns. Hollow shakily lifted their arm and hugged back, the hug filling them with the very warmth they had longed for.

“You deserve the warmth of a father’s love.”

**Author's Note:**

> my first ever fanfic and its filled with FEELS. i hope you enjoyed this and please go send love to the artist i linked at the beginning!


End file.
